Everyone back to work after shutdown ends

Now that the partial shutdown of U.S. government has ended, everyone is back to work at Fort Leavenworth.

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By John Richmeier

The Leavenworth Times - Leavenworth, KS

By John Richmeier

Posted Oct. 18, 2013 at 8:08 PM

By John Richmeier

Posted Oct. 18, 2013 at 8:08 PM

Now that the partial shutdown of U.S. government has ended, everyone is back to work at Fort Leavenworth.

Lt. Col. James Lowe said Thursday was the first day back to work for the remaining furloughed employees at Fort Leavenworth. However, must of the fort's civilian employees who initially were placed on unpaid furlough when the government shut down Oct. 1 had returned Oct. 7.

"We had almost everybody back," said Lowe, who's the public affairs officer for the Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth.

And the active duty personnel at the fort were never furloughed.

Even though most civilian employees had returned before the shutdown officially ended this past week, Lowe said it's fair to say there is still some catchup to do at the Army installation. That's because of work that had been delayed or deferred because of the shutdown or things that were canceled.

But Lowe said he thinks the fort is close to being back to firing on all cylinders.

"We're glad that everybody throughout the federal government is back because they're our partners," Lowe said.

Leavenworth's Veterans Affairs hospital had remained in operation during the shutdown because the VA hospitals already had been fully funded through the 2014 fiscal year, according to hospital spokesman Jim Gleisberg.

At the U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth, employees continued to work during the shutdown because they were classified as "excepted" federal employees, according to prison spokesman Treavor Kroger.

However, there were reports that at least some of the USP employees weren't receiving paychecks during the shutdown.